In an echo of a debate that raged in the United States in the 1980s, the government faces growing criticism for doing almost nothing to rein in the yen, despite alarm that the record-high currency is dealing crippling blows to the country's once all-important export machine. One big reason, analysts and some politicians say, is simple, if generally left unsaid: A high yen benefits Japan's rapidly expanding elderly population, even if it hurts other parts of the country. By speeding the flood of cheaper imported products into Japan, the strong yen is contributing to deflation, a broader

The CME announced after today’s close a 10.7% REDUCTION in silver initial and maintenance margins effective Monday 8/6/12. Initial silver margins cut from $18,900 to $16875, and maintenance margins cut from $14,000 to $12,500. http://www.cmegroup.com/tools-information/lookups/advisories/clearing/files/Chadv12-328.pdf

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook shares crumbled again on Thursday, sending the once-feverishly sought-after name below $20 for the first time as investors scrambled to get out of the way of a potential share deluge in coming weeks.

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Click to enlarge: Once again, its time to peruse the data to see which books TBP readers bought last month. Amazon’s embed code lets me track every click from these links — how many people look at the page, how many books get seen, and/or collectively purchased. Its anonymous — I don’t know who bought [...]

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About a year ago, we wrote about a court ruling that the TSA's naked scanners were legal (they didn't violate the 4th Amendment's restriction on "unreasonable" searches), but that the TSA failed to hold the proper public hearings before buying and deploying them. The TSA appears to have only paid attention to the first part. After a bunch of folks asked why the TSA was ignoring the order for public hearings, now an appeals court has officially weighed in and demanded to know why the TSA has

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… For the 2nd Quarter of 2012, COMSCORE, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR) reported a revenue of $60.3 million, which is a 4% increase over last years 2nd Q. The company announced that revenue growth was stunted by adverse currency fluctuation, and a decline

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… It looks like Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR) regained the confidence of some investors, after implementing a new forecasting method. The company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings and a more realistic forecast compared with report earlier in the year indicating

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  Market Levels   US:  Dow: 12878.90 (-0.71%), S&P 500: 1365.00 (-0.74%), NASDAQ: 2909.77 (-0.36%) Europe: CAC: 3232.46 (-2.76%), DAX: 6606.09 (-2.25%), FTSE: 5662.30 (-0.89%). Asia-Pacific…: Australia: 4269.50 (0.16%), China: 2111.18 (-0.58%), Hong Kong: 19690.20 (-0.66%), India: 5227.75 (-0.24%),

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… Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) has inked a deal with OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE:OGE), that involves two subcidiaries of  Chesapeake and OGE’s Enogex. According to a report published on Equities.com, Enogex announced that it had signed a 15 year agreement with

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… Linkedin Corporation (NYSE:LNKD), Google+ and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s latest competitor in the social network market, released their 2nd Q earnings statement today. The earnings report included the following information: Revenue was up 89%, at $228.2 million, versus last years 2nd

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate tax writers approved a $205 billion package of tax breaks in a rare show of bipartisan unity on Thursday, but across Capitol Hill in the House of Representatives, sniping over taxes between Democrats and Republicans was in full force.

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We've written a lot about the incredible new ecosystem of independent, self-published ebooks, which in a few short years (with the help of huge success stories like Amanda Hocking and Joe Konrath) has largely eliminated the stigma of what we once called "vanity publishing", to the point that even traditionally published authors are deciding to go it alone. Though Hocking and Konrath were some of the first names to get some serious attention with their impressive ebook sales, today there are

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Tess Vigeland: Have you heard anything lately that makes you just want to jump into the stock market? Nah, we haven't either. Especially not this: A major brokerage firm is struggling to stay afloat today after losses caused by a software glitch. Knight Capital's problem prompted wild price swings yesterday right after the stock market opened. You could say that "glitch" cost the company $10 million a minute. Things eventually returned to normal -- in the market, at least. But it doesn't mean everyone feels settled about it. Our New York bureau chief Heidi Moore reports. Heidi Moore: There’s a reason that there’s no show on TV called "CSI: Stock Market": When computer glitches screw up trading, there’s usually no way to tell what went wrong and no way to ensure it won’t happen again. After bad software at Knight Capital wiped out $440 million in 45 minutes, I called Dan Goldie, an independent financial adviser in Silicon Valley. Dan Goldie: People feel like markets really are stacked against them. Facebook’s IPO was also wounded by faulty technology. Financial adviser Greg Evans, who’s with Raymond James, says the frequent computer failures in the stock market unnerve his clients. This latest snafu made him think of the moment in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" when a computer takes over from its human master. “2001: A Space Odyssey” clip:  I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that. Greg Evans: The client concerns revolve around this notion that something larger out there is steering the ship and nobody really has a sense as to the magnitude of the problem. Sal Arnuk, with Themis Trading, says that even professional investors are wary of the inexorable march towards greater trading technology. Sal Arnuk: The talk among professional investors is they’re scratching their head and thinking, maybe all this high speed back and forth, maybe that’s not been such a good idea. Knight Capital is paying the price. Its shares lost their half their value today and the company is looking for a white knight with deep pockets to save it. In New York, I’m Heidi Moore for Marketplace.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate tax writers approved a $205 billion package of tax breaks in a rare show of bipartisan unity on Thursday, but across Capitol Hill in the House of Representatives, sniping over taxes between Democrats and Republicans was in full force.

Read more: Reuters: Top News

Breaking Update From FBN: -VIRTU OUT OF BIDDING FOR KNIGHT CAPITAL -KNIGHT’S JOYCE CONSIDERING BANKRUPTCY REORGANIZATION -KNIGHT LOOKING AT ‘363’ REORGANIZATION TO SELL ASSETS -KNIGHT LOOKING TO EMERGE AS VIABLE COMPANY The botched Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) IPO earlier this… year,

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government's only facility for handling, processing and storing weapons-grade uranium was temporarily shut this week after anti-nuclear activists, including an 82-year-old nun, breached security fences, government officials said on Thursday.

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… Another new trading day, but for Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) it’s the same old story.. shares tumbling to an all-time low. In today’s afternoon trading session, the networking giant’s stocks were down to an all-time low of $20.07 against the May

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